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As our good friends and neighbors in the Dakota's are struggling with severe flooding this month, I think about the landscape that existed prior to our influences upon it.
Much of the North-Central U.S., and well up into South-Central Canada, consists of a vast complex of glacially-carved wetlands called the 'Prairie Pothole' region. This area is not only critical nesting habitat for many, many different species of waterbirds and etc., it also was/still is to a lesser extent a great example of an important role that wetlands play across landscapes - rainfall/snowmelt retention.
Wetlands capture rainfall/snowfall/snowmelt and in turn release water gradually into groundwater and lower elevation rivers and streams.
About half of the wetlands in the 8-million hectare prairie pothole region have been converted to predominantly agriculture. So, this huge area has lost about half of its historical ability to retain precipitation - and now it runs right off in much larger pulses than that which occurred before our impacts took place.
Our settlement patterns have also often centered around rivers/streams - often within historical floodplains themselves. Are the land developers still around to lend a helping hand when the floods come ... ?
Ok, I think you've got the picture ... the picture is a very big one and things we have done, sometimes far 'up-county', can have dramatic unintended consequences.
What can we do? Support land protection and habitat restoration efforts. There are many groups who work day/night at these critical tasks - such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (yes, government can and does do some very cool things), U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, all of the state resource agencies, private non-profit organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, Trust For Public Lands, etc., etc., and many regions have their own Land Trusts operated by local folks rolling up their sleeves to protect the important remnant landscape values in their own communities.
Also, hold your local/regional/national officials/lawmakers responsible ... demand thoughtful land use plans that fully take these landscape values into consideration. Many land use decisions are made by local City Councils and County Boards of Supervisors made up predominantly by people who have local businesses that benefit from economic development.
Randy Riviere, in addition to his role as singer/songwriter/guitarist for the Americana band Mad Buffalo, has a Masters Degree in Wildlife Biology, has spent many years working with environmental/agricultural coalitions resulting in the perpetual protection of over 40,000 acres of wetland/riparian/agricultural habitats, and has received several conservation awards for his efforts including an EPA/Environmental Law Institute National Wetlands Award.
10:06 PM
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